Rice, Sake and Craftsmanship in Kobe | Stunning Japan #travel #vlog #japan #explore #sake #history
Okay, please allow me to introduce you to a world of sake, one of the most famous Japanese spirit which you probably already have been tasting when you have just put your first bite of sushi in your mouth. Sake brewing in Coobe began centuries ago when the Nada districts emerged as Japan’s leading center for rice wine. Favored for its mild climate, pure mountain water and nearby fields of fine rice, brewerous discovered that the region’s mineral rich water enhance fermentation and gave the drink a clean refreshing character. During the Edo period, sake was crafted almost entirely by hand in small wooden breweries where each step demanded patience and skill. Walker steamed rice over open fire, cooled it on straw mat and mixed it with a special culture to begin the slow brewery process. Today, Kobas museums preserve these wooden bats, steam basket, and pressing frame standing as a quiet business to a time when craftsmanship and nature shaped every drop of sake. Around 90% of Japanese sake today are produced here in Coobe. And in the olden time, people actually traveled with sailing boats with borrows of borrows of sake from here in Coobe to the entire island nation called Nepon. In the Kobe regime, rice with large uniform grains, a soft sturdy core and low protein content is ideal for producing refined sake as it yields a clean delicate flavor. Before fermentation, the rice is polished to remove the outer layer rich in proteins and lipids which can interfere with enzyatic reactions. It is then washed and hydrated to achieve uniform moisture, steamed to galatinize the starch and inoculated with mold to initiate amolysis. During fermentation, yeast metabolizes this sugar into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Low protein rice is preferred because excessive proteins can generate beta amino acids and haze while a high starch to protein ratio maximizes sugar availability ensuring efficient fermentation and producing a smooth high quality beverage before the invention of the steam power. So all this turning up and down of the steam rides was done by the mass power exclusively. So the workers must be strong, devoted and most importantly enjoy the beautiful sound of the steamed rice. The craftsman in the breer controls fermentation like a conductor guiding a delicate symphony. He carefully balances temperature, sugar level, and water to guide yeast in transforming rice into alcohol. Each day, subtle changes in the mash are watched carely for even a slight shift can alter the flavor. Sensory perception becomes a formal art. Touching the rice, inhaling the sweet earthy aroma, tasting tiny sample to sense its progress. The craftsman’s intuition cultivated through a lifetime of practice reads these signals as clearly as poet reads a verse. In this quiet attentive work, signs and artistry meet, creating sake that carries both precision and soul. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. In this small space, it requires eight workers to just push the rise up and down. And I would like to ask a question in the age of artificial intelligence, why the experience, especially the collected experience still matter so much? While walking through Asaki Museum, I could feel the emotional resonance of each object as if every wooden container and handcrafted tool carried a story to share with us today. The exhibits reveal how adopirit saki production was organized as a coordinated workflow with each stage from rise preparation to fermentation designed to optimize efficiency and quality. Brewers had to synchronize tasks, manage timing precisely, and allocate labor carefully to ensure allocated processes like mold cultivation and mash fermentation proceeded smoothly. Observing these arrangements highlights the stage that demanded the most oversight, showing how thoughtful organization and skilled hands were essential to producing high quality sake. Look what I found. The shoes. Of course, I have to have those beautiful satched shoes in order to walk around in this beautiful workshop amongst all this large container which are filled with steamed rice. In Idu, Japan, sake brewing was grueling work that demanded skill, strength, and attention. Brewers trained for years, learning each stage of process from rice preparation to fermentation. Hygiene was sacred. Hands were washed again and again in clean water, scrubed with precision before touching rice or tools. Each gesture protecting the delicate brew. Tools and workspaces were managed with equal devotion, for even a trace of impurity could ruin the batch. Through this relentless attention to cleanness, brewers transform simple rice and water into bottles of exceptional quality and purity. So if you want to be an excellent experience brewer, you must be a really good acrobatic as well. Just look at those sandals. I mean it requires years of experience in able to step into the sandals and start to work. And for me, I would probably go like, uh, no, I can’t keep my balance, right? As sake master acted as a fermentation engineer, blending technical expertise, handsome labor, and leadership. They precise acute sensory perception detecting sopal changes in pH, temperature, aroma and viscosity that signal the progress of sacarification or the risk of microbial spoilage. Their judgment extended beyond observation, guiding critical decisions on water composition, east propagation, and anatic activity to achieve precise alcoholic levels, flavor balance, and clarity. Economic responsibility was central. They optimized yields, minimized losses from contamination, and coordinated production to satisfy market and racial demands. As leaders, they trained apprentices, organized workflows and enhanced strict sanitation protocols to ensure consistent quality and safety. So this is a modern process industry for this famous masaki. And the question is what is still so important with the traditional methods? Is homogeneity always what we truly desire or do we value products that carry a genuine human touch for better worth? In the west, an increasing number of people are willing to pay a premium for craft beer produced by small breweries, often featuring a unique blend of spices or flavors. In Japan, micro braveries and artisano products are equally attracting attention, offering sake or beer with distinctive characters that reflect the skill and creativity of their makers. Here they have the most most most outlandish vending machine. So by putting small coins you will get one of the 18 bottles which was produced here in this very factory. Walking through Kobe’s narrow winding streets in the evening. The cheerful songs drifting from a nearby saki bar and the warm glow of paper lantern reminds us how the wisdom of ancient culture meets modern science. Today basy logic help control the complex nonlinear and uncertain nature of fermentation subly shaping the way we consume sake and transforming the bravery industry from a labor intensive craft to a largely automated process.
We traveled to Kobe by train on a day trip from Osaka to explore the city’s famous sake district. Our initial goal was to understand how modern fuzzy logic has transformed sake brewing from a labor-intensive craft into a largely automated industry, all while capturing the subtle sensory nuances that only experienced brewers can perceive. Walking among the ancient wooden vats and steaming baskets, we were deeply moved by the sense of humanism embedded in every corner of the breweries. Each shop tells its own story, celebrating both prosperous days and moments of struggle. I found myself reflecting on whether originality alone defines excellence, or if it is the ongoing process of innovation that makes the sake industry such a fascinating study in craftsmanship.
#travel #vlog #japan #sake #adventure #kobe #brewery #Wanderlust #culturetrip
Reference list:
Hori, Keisuke, Yusuke Hoshino, and Hiroshi Shimizu. “Which Do You Prefer, Artisanal or Laboratory Made?: Quantification in Traditional Japanese Sake Brewing.” Hitotsubashi journal of commerce and management (2017): 1-16.
Hori, Keisuke, Yusuke Hoshino, and Hiroshi Shimizu. “Apprenticeship and product quality: empirical analysis on the sake brewing industry.” Management & Organizational History 15, no. 1 (2020): 40-64.
Oishi, Kaoru, Mitsunori Tominaga, Akitsugu Kawato, Yasuhisa Abe, Satoshi Imayasu, and Akira Nanba. “Application of fuzzy control theory to the sake brewing process.” Journal of fermentation and bioengineering 72, no. 2 (1991): 115-121.
Okuda, Masaki. “Rice used for Japanese sake making.” Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry 83, no. 8 (2019): 1428-1441.
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